Council boss vows to protect pensioners this winter

A Labour council leader says he is having to "roll with the punches" amid the backlash to his party’s decision to remove universal winter fuel payments.

Gavin Callaghan, the leader of Basildon Borough Council, says he "fully supports" Prime Minister Keir Starmer on improving the country’s financial position.

But Labour MPs faced criticism after voting in parliament to remove a £300 payment to all pensioners in favour of a means-tested system.

Mr Callaghan, who aims to offer 1,000 pensioners £100 each this winter in a new scheme, said: "We have to roll with the punches, that’s what councils do, so we can protect our communities on the front line."

The council’s new Warm Home Guarantee aims to ensure that about 1,000 pensioners, who are eligible, sign up to receive pension credit and are therefore able to continue to receive their winter fuel payment.

For those falling outside the pension credit threshold, but still struggling, the council has allocated a £100,000 pot of money to give one-off £100 grants to households to help with heating costs.

Mr Callaghan said the council would visit all of the borough’s 47 sheltered housing schemes, while officers would also attend libraries and community centres to ensure all those eligible signed up for pension credits.

Council officers would then also be able to determine the households who needed the £100 extra help during the winter.

Mr Callaghan said: "The beauty of the people of Basildon is that they are not daft, and they don’t expect that the prime minister, who has only been in since July, is going to have fixed the nations finances by September.

"There’s actually an awful lot of pensioners who say 'I don’t need the winter fuel allowance, it should be means-tested' and there should be a way the government can determine whether or not a Rod Stewart or Alan Sugar is receiving £300 cash off the taxpayer - while we’ve got young people unable to get on the housing ladder and we’ve got people using foodbanks."

But pensioners shopping and working at Basildon Market were angry at the Labour government’s decision.

Chris Elliott, who runs the Battery Centre stall, said: "I’m 80 and I’ve still got to keep working because I couldn’t possibly live on the state pension."

Ron Day, 87, is also still working on Kit’s Haberdashery stall, said: "I think it’s disgusting. I’m not too bad, but there’s people who just can’t afford nothing."

Seamus Murray, 68, from Basildon Market Barbers, added: "Labour are just coming out with things that are just winding everybody up."

Conservative opposition leader on Basildon Borough Council, Andrew Baggott, said: "The action that is being taken seems as if it's not going to scratch the surface, £100 to 1,000 pensioners out of the 27,837 in the borough."

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